REVIEW & EXCERPT: NOT A MISTAKE by Amber Belldene

Posted March 23, 2016 by Sultan Donmez in Blog Tours, Book Love, Guest Posts & Reviews, Home, Our Reviews, Special Content & Excerpts, Sultan Review / 0 Comments

Title: Not a Mistake

Author: Amber Belldene

Series: A Hot Under Her Collar Novel

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: March 15, 2016

Sometimes a scandal isn’t a sin…

On the night she graduates from seminary, Jordan Sykes finds herself in bed with Dominic Lawrence, the ethics professor she’s crushed on for years. Two months later, she discovers she’s pregnant and is determined to hide it to protect his career. Maybe, if she loves her new church like hell, they won’t fire her for being a single mother.

Dominic knows the difference between right and wrong, and he’s filled with remorse after sleeping with his favorite student. He’s offered the job of his dreams, but he’d be a hypocrite to accept without making things right with Jordan first.

Dominic proposes marriage to save their careers, never expecting they will prove a perfect—and passionate—match. But can Jordan give her heart to a man who still believes the first night they spent together was a mistake?

This is one of my more difficult books to review. This was the first book by this author I have read and by the end of this charming story I knew I’ll most likely read more from this author. I enjoyed her style of writing, however, at times I felt it moved slowish. It was hard to connect with the hero (Dominic) and that made it difficult to believe the growing relationship between him and Jordan at times. Especially since you could feel the want and desire coming off of Jordan. As you got more and more of Dominic’s story I started to understand his stand offish behavior and it made more sense.

Jordan was one of Dominic’s students and during a night of graduation celebration they got a little carried away and had themselves a very very fun night. However a few months later Jordan realizes she got a souvenir gift from that night in the form of a baby. This is a wonderful blessing and Jordan is both terrified and crazy excited. You see Jordan is a priest, and Dominic was her ethics teacher and he is a very straight and by the books guy. Not to mention he hardly every let’s his libido do the thinking for him. But he has wanted Jordan from the first day she walked into his lecture hall.

When Dominic finds out about their little “kidney bean” he is taken by the unexpected news. However, he feels he owes it to Jordan and his unborn child to see if he can have a relationship with her. During the progress of them dating and getting to know each other better he battles with his happiness and the guilt he feels at putting Jordan in this position in the first place. They both fear the outcome of her church when word gets out about the baby and her having it out of wedlock, and with her professor as well.

So thus begins the battle and story of Jordan, Dominic and their little kidney bean. Together they battle life, love, the church and one disgruntled man of the church in particular who seems to have it out for Jordan. Even with the slow build up, and a frustrating hero at times I really did enjoy this story. I recommend this book to anyone who ever thought “oh fu*k it” and went out to find their own happiness consequences be damned!!

“I take it you’re feeling better?”

“Uh huh,” she mumbled, pointing at her full mouth and chewing, her eyes showing the tension of what might be a grimace, had her mouth been free to make the expression.

On second look, she was still a little green around the edges. He couldn’t imagine two donuts was the recommended breakfast to recover from the stomach bug.

“Should you be eating that?”

She wiped a pink sprinkle from her mouth with the back of her hand. “Doctor’s orders. Don’t get hungry. Keep something in my stomach.”

Interesting advice. But what did he know? He hadn’t had a stomach bug since he was in diapers.

“What are you doing here?” Her whisper was strained, as tense as her eyes had been.

Right. This wasn’t any easier for her. What did she feel? Shame, guilt, plain old now-that-we’ve-had-sex-everything-is-different awkwardness?

He raised his arm and pointed his laptop’s remote at the screen. The cover of Sins of the Fathers appeared.

“You’re presenting? I thought Dan—”

“He has the same stomach bug as you, apparently. Why you aren’t in bed—?”

“I’m not your student anymore. Stop bossing me around.” She set down her plate to cross her arms.

God. Why on earth was that so cute? And he’d never once bossed her around, simply advised her academically. Which had been a true pleasure—she’d been sharp and dedicated.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m simply concerned for your health.”

“Oh, is that what you’re feeling?” She glanced back to the screen then leaned close. “Because I would have guessed you are feeling like Swiss cheese, eaten up by guilt and regret.”

His shirt shrunk another size, right there on his body. How did she know him so well? He who made a point of being known by very few people.

She buttoned up her jacket and hoisted her purse up higher on her shoulder. “I can’t stay here and watch you talk about this book while trying not to reveal your self-loathing.”

He scanned the crowd to make sure no one was watching them, then leaned close to whisper. That delicious sandalwood scent clung to her, stirring the parts of him deeper than reason, or right and wrong. “Then accept my apology and stay.”

To his shock, tears shone in her eyes. Oh, hell. He’d made her cry.

“I can’t, really. I’m sorry for that, and for so many things. But I just can’t be sorry about what happened. I don’t want to take it back, or call it a mistake.”

Amber Belldene is always reading racy books at the most inappropriate times, and has been observed ogling her Kindle in the church parking lot. Even as a kid, she hid novels inside the service bulletin to read during sermons, an irony that is not lost on her when she preaches these days. Amber is a romance writer and Episcopal priest who believes sexuality is vital to spirituality, love is beautifully messy, and stories are the best way to explore human truths. Evidence of these convictions can be found in Amber’s steamy paranormals and quirky, hot contemporaries, which have been published by Omnific, Entangled, and Lyrical/Kensington. She lives with her husband and two children in San Francisco and can be found at amberbelldene.com.